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This supermarket employee was attacked simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time; his ordeal teaches all of us some important Active Self Protection lessons.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this supermarket employee attacked at random? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against a knife attack?

You must accept that danger exists and that it can happen to you. This is the foundational core of spiritual fitness and the first step in taking proactive steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. If you live in a fantasyland that nothing bad can happen because nothing bad has happened in the past, you’re setting yourself up for a terrible letdown.

In any territorial or predatorial violence, the attacker gets to set the time and circumstances of the attack. They will almost always launch that attack from ambush, or as we like to call it in Umas, from “obscurity.” Surviving that ambush is one of the most important keys to successfully defending yourself. Thankfully the clerk did survive the ambush.

In the ambush stage of an attack, it’s simply not possible to defend against every single kind of attack that may come your way. Some tacticool folk I know think that they can thwart any potential attack that might be aimed at them, but honestly we see on video that they’re simply mistaken. Sometimes that first attack is GOING to succeed against us, no matter what, so our response must be able to include the fact that we may be diminished from absorbing that damage and staying in the fight. This is primarily an issue of emotional fitness, being able to stay mentally and emotionally present so as to end the threat and then assess our condition.

As well-meaning as police officers are, they cannot protect you from danger. As the old adage says, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!” You—and ONLY you—can protect yourself from danger when it comes upon you. A police response time of 5 minutes is considered perfectly acceptable in most suburban departments, and times upwards of 30 minutes can be the norm in rural areas! You need to have the attitude, skills, and plan to protect yourself from harm because the police simply can’t.

Even if you’re injured, you must stay in the fight and not stop as long as you have consciousness. The human body is designed to take a ridiculous amount of injury and still function, so never stop fighting just because you’re injured! Even if you’re shot or stabbed, you have a 67-95% chance of surviving! (https://get-asp.com/ew3l and https://get-asp.com/p0hn give the details) So practice emotional fitness by knowing that even if the bad guy gets the jump and you’re injured, you’re still in the fight and still likely to survive if you take definitive action to protect yourself. As they say, the best cover is fire superiority and the best first aid is to end the threat!

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

These officers had to react SO fast to a very volatile situation. Heck, just clearing the house is a hard job! Good work assessing their options and protecting themselves.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like these officers responding to the TASER failure? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves when our tools fail?

You must understand that your intermediate force options, those in between hands and firearm/knife (like pepper spray, TASER, baton, etc.) will not always be effective. They are designed to be used BEFORE a threat becomes a deadly threat, and we must always be ready for them to fail us. At that point, we must quickly decide whether the right answer is to move to empty-handed skills or to deadly force options.

Whether you’re LEO or CCW, you need to know what force options you have available and when to abandon one and move to another. (“force options” are a better model than the older “force continuum” model) You need to know when your pepper spray is the best option, or when to abandon it (or the TASER) in favor of your firearm in a split-second decision. The best way, of course, to learn and embed these options in your mind is to train in force on force scenarios with the options and then respond to the situations appropriately.

If you have a partner with you when you’re attacked (be it a LEO partner if you work on a team, or your spouse or martial artist buddy), you want to do everything you can to work as a team. Knowing each other well and communicating clearly will help you protect yourself from danger. This takes training and practice and commitment, but two partners working together present a formidable challenge to any attacker.

The rules of firearm safety apply in a gunfight, just like they do on the range or in your home. Whether you prefer to articulate them as Colonel Cooper’s four rules or the NRA’s three rules (I have a discussion of my preference here: https://get-asp.com/cfgf if you want to read it), you must have the presence of mind to keep your firearm pointed in the appropriate direction and only fire when you will not hit an innocent. You are morally and legally responsible for the rounds that leave your gun, so make sure to train and practice so that you take responsible shots in the moment of need.

One of the significant dangers in using your defensive firearm is to your support hand. This is usually only in play in a very close-range defensive shooting, say 6 feet or less. What we see happen on video regularly is that if a threat closes within about 2 arms lengths rapidly, the natural tendency is to release the support hand from the pistol and use it as a barrier to the attacker getting too close. The danger there is in floating the support hand out in front of the muzzle and shooting yourself! In training, that means we must drill and drill and drill the thumb pectoral index which minimizes the risk to the support hand, as well as drilling keeping the support hand close to ward off blows while using the firearm in defense.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

https://activeselfprotection.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Officers-Forced-to-React-in-a-Split-Second-After-TASER-Fails.jpg10801920John Correiahttps://activeselfprotection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ASP-Logo4-300x111-300x111.pngJohn Correia2017-07-10 07:01:002017-07-10 07:07:18Officers Forced to React in a Split Second After TASER Fails

This robbery and beating were hard to watch, but this stuff doesn’t just happen in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Use your awareness to protect yourself!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this robbery caught on camera? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an ambush robbery?

Situational awareness is your best friend. It doesn’t mean that you always are paranoid or living in “condition orange,” but it does mean that you know Col. Cooper’s color code of awareness and you live by it. Pay attention to your surroundings, and recognize that when you’re in public places you need to be more aware of your surroundings than when you’re in private.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of situational awareness is that it buys you time and space to respond to a threat, and time and space buy you options when considering how to protect yourself and your loved ones from a threat. Time and space give you the chance to escape and evade, or time and space to get your force multiplier in the fight, and time and space to better your defensive position and give you a better chance to be victorious.

The “master key” to situational awareness, as taught to me by my teacher Lawrence Robinson and his teacher Skip Hancock, is simple curiosity. You don’t have to be paranoid! Instead, simply be curious of your world like a small child is curious of their world. Look around you and really SEE. Look for what makes sense in your surroundings, but most importantly look for what’s out of place and doesn’t belong. I like to think back to the Sesame Street song “Three of These Things” and remember to look for the thing that doesn’t belong. As self-defenders, you’re looking for someone who doesn’t belong in their environment. A person standing still while everyone else moves. A person in a hoodie with the hood up when everyone else is in shorts and flip flops on a hot day. A person loitering where people come and go quickly. If you are curious and looking for what doesn’t belong, you’re 99% of the way there to being aware of your surroundings!

It’s dark for half the day, and bad guys of all kinds love to launch ambushes from the dark. That means, as a self-defender, that part of having good situational awareness involves keeping a flashlight on your person. That flashlight doesn’t have to be crazy tacticool and shouldn’t be firearm-mounted, because its purpose is to help you see at night to give you better awareness of any potential threats far before they can hurt you. A VERY compact option that runs on AAs is this Streamlight: http://amzn.to/1U9S39H and I carry this 1000 lumen Fenix: http://amzn.to/1S73jjb which is rechargeable and has multiple modes of brightness. A middle ground that I have used very effectively is this Olight: http://amzn.to/29htS3q. I highly recommend a flashlight for everyone, simply as an awareness tool at night.

First aid skills are important. If you’re going to train and prepare to take a life to defend yourself, you should also have skills, training, and equipment to save life should you need to. (I carry an individual first aid kit at a minimum: http://amzn.to/1Or4yVz ) Often that will not involve defensive encounters, and in a defensive encounter your primary responsibility is to yourself and your loved ones.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Against a mugger or armed robber, you MUST wait for your opportunity to get ahead of them and protect yourself. This firearms instructor did just that, and teaches us all a lesson in the process.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this firearm instructor launching a counter ambush? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

News stories on this firearm instructor need Google Translate from Spanish, but there are a couple of them https://get-asp.com/9py0 and https://get-asp.com/joe7 in order from earliest report to later. Note that the video evidence was significant in exonerating him.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an armed robber?

Never leave your life-saving tools at home. Having attitude and skills to protect yourself with your firearm will not help you if you do not have it on your person when you need it. Leaving your gun in the glove compartment, on the night stand, or in your safe could be a fatal mistake. Keep your tools on your person whenever you legally can so that if (God forbid) you need them, you have them. This is the same reason you wear your seatbelt every trip in the car, and keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. You need to have it ready before you need it.

Your firearm will only come out when it’s the worst day of your life, so make sure that you can draw that firearm quickly and reliably. Vet your carry position so that you know without a doubt that you can get a full firing grip and get the gun out of the holster and into the fight without fail. If you have to fumble to get the correct grip on the gun, change your carry setup until you can. Then train and practice until you can’t get it wrong. As the old saying goes, in a gunfight you have the rest of your life to get your gun in the fight, so get good at it.

Feigning compliance can be an excellent strategy in an armed robbery to buy you time to find your opportunity to defend yourself. The hands-up, palms-out posture tells the armed robbers that you’re compliant, and might give you the opportunity to defend yourself when they stop focusing on you.

Successful self-defense against many attacks involves a counter-ambush, where the victim finds the right opportunity to seize the initiative from the attacker and launch an ambush of their own. That involves thinking and knowing your own strengths and skill set, and being ready to strike the attacker when your opportunity for counter-ambush comes. It also means not allowing the attacker to see that attack until it’s launched.

It is critical to know not only how to shoot from the “press out” position, but also from high compressed ready and from retention. Being able to shoot from a high compressed ready as well as from retention are vital skills for all self-defenders to have, because drawing the firearm and using it when there is a threat within arms-length means not pressing it out to use it effectively. You must have the ability to use it in close quarters without endangering your firearm.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

There’s a reason we harp on people not to chase robbers when they run off…if they’re armed, you place yourself in needless danger, like this shop owner did. Here’s hoping he makes a full recovery.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this owner chasing fleeing robbers? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

News stories are scant on this incident. Best info I could find was https://get-asp.com/xgkv in the comments and https://get-asp.com/24vi for location data. If you have more, please send it to me at john at activeselfprotection.com and I will add it.

What does this video teach us about beating a mugger and protecting ourselves?

If you do not have the attitude, skills, and plan to protect yourself from an attacker, then your only option is to submit to their demands and hope it works out for the best. I would never suggest that a helpless person try to defend themselves against a carjacking or armed robbery, though of course if it’s a matter of life and death you must do whatever you can. The point, though, is not to be a helpless victim! This is the heart of Active Self Protection, to motivate you to train and help you develop the attitude, skills, and plan so that you can choose to protect yourself if it makes sense in the moment rather than being forced into compliance with a violent felon.

One of the factors we see in injury to victims of crime is half-hearted resistance or half-hearted compliance. This amounts to an ego check or a will check of the armed robber to see if they really mean what they say they mean, and while that’s normal for people to do, it gets a lot of people hurt. Either comply fully with the criminals’ demands, or resist with everything you have to overwhelm the attacker and end the threat. Don’t go half-way.

Remember, at the end of a defensive encounter your goal is to get to safety and end the threat against you and your loved ones. Pursuing a fleeing bad guy for whatever reason is unwise because they very well may counter-ambush you or hurt you to make their escape. Once the threat ends, let the threat go and take action to make yourself safer.

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers.

Using your verbal judo to de-escalate and redirect a conflict is always the best choice if it is available, so make sure that your verbal game is strong. Knowing how to redirect, how to persuade, how to empathize, and how to talk someone down from a confrontation is critical to avoiding some fights. That said, we must also know that some people will not be dissuaded from a fight, so knowing when to talk and when to act is critical as well.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

The defender in this incident found the right time to turn the tables on this mugger, and because he had his firearm on him and ready, the mugger took the Room Temperature Challenge.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this off duty officer avoiding the Room Temperature Challenge? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

News stories are scant on this incident. Best info I could find was https://get-asp.com/xgkv in the comments and https://get-asp.com/24vi for location data. If you have more, please send it to me at john at activeselfprotection.com and I will add it.

What does this video teach us about beating a mugger and protecting ourselves?

Feigning compliance can be an excellent strategy in an armed robbery to buy you time to find your opportunity to defend yourself. The hands-up, palms-out posture tells the armed robbers that you’re compliant, and might give you the opportunity to defend yourself when they stop focusing on you.

The “master key” to situational awareness, as taught to me by my teacher Lawrence Robinson and his teacher Skip Hancock, is simple curiosity. You don’t have to be paranoid! Instead, simply be curious of your world like a small child is curious of their world. Look around you and really SEE. Look for what makes sense in your surroundings, but most importantly look for what’s out of place and doesn’t belong. I like to think back to the Sesame Street song “Three of These Things” and remember to look for the thing that doesn’t belong. As self-defenders, you’re looking for someone who doesn’t belong in their environment. A person standing still while everyone else moves. A person in a hoodie with the hood up when everyone else is in shorts and flip flops on a hot day. A person loitering where people come and go quickly. If you are curious and looking for what doesn’t belong, you’re 99% of the way there to being aware of your surroundings!

Emotional fitness is not only about staying in the fight, but about choosing to protect yourself wholeheartedly. Time and again we see victims “try out” defending themselves to see if they can, and then wilting when it doesn’t work immediately. This places them in grave danger from attackers who are now offended as well as aware that their victims could fight back. The lesson here is that if you’re going to comply, comply. But if you choose to protect yourself, in the moment you choose to launch your counter-attack, launch it with ferocity and commitment. Go “all in” and prevail 100%, beginning with spiritual, emotional, and mental fitness to win the fight no matter what. Anything else is setting you up for disaster.

Successful self-defense against many attacks involves a counter-ambush, where the victim finds the right opportunity to seize the initiative from the attacker and launch an ambush of their own. That involves thinking and knowing your own strengths and skill set, and being ready to strike the attacker when your opportunity for counter-ambush comes. It also means not allowing the attacker to see that attack until it’s launched.

Keep your firearm ready to fire. Some people carry their firearm with an empty chamber, but doing so is not recommended for several reasons. First, it assumes that you will have both hands available to you to draw your firearm, which isn’t necessarily the case. You might have a hand engaged or injured. Secondly, it assumes that you’ll have time to chamber a round in a gunfight, but gunfights are won and lost on tenths of seconds. Third, it assumes that you’ll have the dexterity to chamber a round under duress, though in the moment many times I have seen people fumble their chambering attempt. Fourth, the sound of a round chambering can alert an attacker who is not focused on you that you are a danger to him, which can negate your element of surprise in a counter-ambush. Keep your defensive firearm ready to fire, with a round in the chamber!

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

This woman fought pretty well I think, but the mugger had the drop on her and that made it tough. Lots of lessons for self-defenders of all kinds from this mugging!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this mugger ambushing a woman on the street? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against muggers?

The first and most foundational part of Active Self Protection’s defensive strategy of “Attitude, Skills, Plan” is Attitude. You must cultivate the attitude that you are responsible for your own self-protection and you are the primary agent in your own rescue. You and only you can choose to cultivate an attitude that no one has the right to harm you or your loved ones and you have a right and a responsibility to stop anyone who threatens to harm you and yours. This woman had a good attitude, but needed to back it up with some awareness and some skills!

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can.

The “master key” to situational awareness, as taught to me by my teacher Lawrence Robinson and his teacher Skip Hancock, is simple curiosity. You don’t have to be paranoid! Instead, simply be curious of your world like a small child is curious of their world. Look around you and really SEE. Look for what makes sense in your surroundings, but most importantly look for what’s out of place and doesn’t belong. I like to think back to the Sesame Street song “Three of These Things” and remember to look for the thing that doesn’t belong. As self-defenders, you’re looking for someone who doesn’t belong in their environment. A person standing still while everyone else moves. A person in a hoodie with the hood up when everyone else is in shorts and flip flops on a hot day. A person loitering where people come and go quickly. If you are curious and looking for what doesn’t belong, you’re 99% of the way there to being aware of your surroundings!

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers. The sidewalk is a transitional space because of the ease of ambush and escape, so when you’re walking in public, be aware.

If you run from an attack, don’t just run AWAY from danger. Run TO something. Run TO the corner where you can fight one at a time. Run TO a store where a guard can help you. Run TO your house where you can lock the door. Run TO a place where you can better defend yourself from attack. Running FROM danger is great, but running TO safety is better!

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

This shootout between Dundalk, Maryland officers and a known armed robber is one of the craziest that I have ever seen. SO much to learn here that it’s the longest video I have ever narrated!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this officer involved shootout? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about the chaos that is a real shootout?

The first and most foundational part of Active Self Protection’s defensive strategy of “Attitude, Skills, Plan” is Attitude. You must cultivate the attitude that you are responsible for your own self-protection and you are the primary agent in your own rescue. You and only you can choose to cultivate an attitude that no one has the right to harm you or your loved ones and you have a right and a responsibility to stop anyone who threatens to harm you and yours. The first officer went looking for an armed robber but didn’t appear to be mentally and emotionally ready for the trouble she was walking into. If you know trouble is likely, whether a shootout or something else, get emotionally prepared!

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can.

Marksmanship in a real deadly force encounter might mean that you need to be ready to make a precision shot on a threat, and you must be prepared emotionally and skill-wise to do so. Shooting a threat in the face, a target the size of a 3×5 card, under stress is no small feat! To be able to stop a terrorist attack or hostage situation, though, it is a necessary skill and you should train and practice your marksmanship until it is second nature. A good standard is Dave Spaulding’s “Skill on Demand” drill, which involves 2 shots in 2 seconds at 20 feet, in a 3×5 card.

Always remember that while good people practice firearms safety at all times, criminals do not. If they cared about firearms safety, they wouldn’t use firearms to hurt people! They will endanger a bystander or a crowd to get what they want. They will take reckless shots. They will flag everyone in the place to threaten them with harm. They will negligently discharge their firearm. That is a prime reason that we need to smartly end the threat, because as long as the attacker has a firearm out, everyone is in danger.

First aid skills are important. If you’re going to train and prepare to take a life to defend yourself, you should also have skills, training, and equipment to save life should you need to. (I carry an individual first aid kit at a minimum: http://amzn.to/1Or4yVz ) Often that will not involve defensive encounters, and in a defensive encounter your primary responsibility is to yourself and your loved ones.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

We see the Bystander Effect so often in self-defense encounters, but this one really takes the cake. You really are on your own! Would you have had the attitude, skills, and plan to fight this attacker off by yourself? Would you have stepped in as a bystander?

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this bad case of Bystander Effect? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an attack?

Never ignore your “creep alarm,” that uneasy, queasy feeling that something isn’t right. Your creep alarm is usually your subconscious’ way of telling you that something IS wrong, and you need to take action to make yourself safer. It was pretty clear to see that this woman was aware that the attacker meant her harm. Don’t ignore that feeling!

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can. This kind of evil in someone’s heart, who will rob and attack someone in a store and among a group of people, is pretty far gone.

The Bystander Effect is real. There were lots of people around here, but no one stepped in. You cannot count on anyone breaking the Bystander Effect to help you, especially if the attacker is armed and any help would be at a force deficit from it. Usually the best way to break the Bystander Effect is to have a force multiplication advantage, which is a great reason to keep your force multiplier on you at all times.

As well-meaning as police officers are, they cannot protect you from danger. As the old adage says, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!” You—and ONLY you—can protect yourself from danger when it comes upon you. A police response time of 5 minutes is considered perfectly acceptable in most suburban departments, and times upwards of 30 minutes can be the norm in rural areas! You need to have the attitude, skills, and plan to protect yourself from harm because the police simply can’t.

Empty-handed skills are absolutely critical for self-defenders. First of all, more conflicts you will encounter as a self-defender will require empty-handed skills than will require firearms skills, simply because more self-defense encounters are physical than deadly. Second, since a firearm is a tool of last resort, self-defenders need to have non-lethal options that include empty-handed skills to protect themselves from likely incidents. Third, in the moment of the encounter you may not have the time to get to your gun before you can fight your way to it.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

https://activeselfprotection.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/self-defense.jpg12622236John Correiahttps://activeselfprotection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ASP-Logo4-300x111-300x111.pngJohn Correia2017-06-28 06:31:092017-06-28 06:37:19In Self-Defense, You Really Are On Your Own

In some places in the world, carjacking is one of the chief dangers most people regularly face. Even in parts of the US, carjacking is incredibly common! (Detroit, for instance, has 2 a day) Knowing effective carjacking defense is a useful skill for self-defenders to have, and knowing the limits of that defense is important too.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this carjacking gone wrong? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

News story on this carjacking: https://get-asp.com/yakj Notice in this story (Google Translate required from Spanish) the PM said that the guy threatened to kill him, though the video seems to show that he was out of the danger zone. Also, the perp’s gun was fake. Nothing the PM could do about that in the moment, though.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against a carjacking?

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers. The stupid teens used the cover of the door and the transitional space to launch their robbery from obscurity, which made the clerk react quickly and before he could process the information. Cars become transitional spaces when they’re stopped. If you’re in a stopped vehicle, you’re in a transitional space.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of situational awareness is that it buys you time and space to respond to a threat, and time and space buy you options when considering how to protect yourself and your loved ones from a threat. Time and space give you the chance to escape and evade, or time and space to get your force multiplier in the fight, and time and space to better your defensive position and give you a better chance to be victorious. The news story says that the victim here was distracted by texting with friends on his phone. Doing that on a public road takes your awareness away and makes you a more likely target of attack!

If the attacker has a gun drawn on you, there is nothing you’re going to do in that moment to get your gun into the fight. It’s just not going to happen, and this video shows that well. You cannot draw from the drop! When someone has the drop on you, with a gun out and attention on you, it’s suicide to go for your gun. You have to earn your draw against the drop, and you earn that draw by either waiting for a moment of distraction for the armed robber (like if he looks away to check for people coming) or by closing the gap and using empty-handed skills to take his opportunity to use his gun away. If you don’t do either of those, you will likely be shot before your gun is in the fight.

In almost all instances and jurisdictions you cannot use deadly physical force to defend property. (Texas is the rare exception to this, but recognize that TPC 9.42 has some significant limitations) Even in cases where you COULD use deadly physical force to defend property, it’s worth considering whether it is WISE to use deadly physical force because of the risk to yourself and to any bystanders that could come because you choose to continue to engage the criminal(s). That doesn’t usually apply to occupied buildings and cars because of the inherent value of the people inside of them, and the defense of property does vary considerably from state to state as to what’s acceptable. Please consult with a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction to be sure that you understand the laws of your area!

One of the five pillars of lawful, moral self-defense is “imminence,” (get a nutshell here: http://get-asp.com/wbbp or the whole concept here: http://get-asp.com/1fqe ). Imminence means the threat is happening RIGHT NOW, that it’s neither too late nor too early for you to defend yourself! The standard of imminence is seen as a triad of ability, opportunity, and jeopardy (also known as the AOJ triad, which is explained here: http://get-asp.com/pm3k in some detail). In this carjacking, imminence means that unless someone was in the car, and THEIR life is still

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